Monday, February 28, 2005

RAINBOWS... COOL NATURAL PHENOMENON OR HEAVENLY DESIGN?

Yesterday I as sitting in church and listening to the pastor give a sermon titled, "The Rainbow of Grace." It was on Genesis 9:1-17 on the time after the flood and when God lays his new convenant with Noah. The primary message of the sermon was understanding how we are stewards of this earth and even though we had an eternal perspective on life we shouldn't negate that responsibility. The verse that got me thinking was 12-16:

And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

It's fascinating to think about the rainbow and if you believe as it's stated above that God created it solely as a sign of His convenent between Noah and all his descendants (us). We know the science behind how a rainbow is created. Looking it up in Encarta it states:

"Rainbow, arch of light exhibiting the spectrum colors in their order, caused by drops of water falling through the air..."

But if you think about it, how does such an orderly image of primary colors and in such a shape form out of random drops in the sky? Why wasn't this natural phenomenon more like the aurora borealis with lights dancing in the sky? It's amazing to think about the order and design God put into His creations and what purpose each thing serves. As a Christian, I have to believe the rainbow has a specific purpose and it's astounding to think about the power and wisdom God has to create such things that most people take for granted as part of nature, and how they do not have the knowledge (me included until yesterday) that it was created with a specific purpose in mind. Science can only explain part of the story much of the time. There is a whole other part that God only knows.